Awareness about Cervical Cancer amongst Women in a Campaign

Objectives: to assess the basic knowledge and information regarding cervical cancer amongst women who attended a cervical cancer awareness campaign. Methods: A cervical Cancer awareness campaign was carried out in January 2016 at an academic hospital, Women’s Specialized Hospital, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on the same day. A cross sectional survey was performed where a questionnaire was completed by interviewing patients, staff, allied health care providers and physicians. All interested attendees who attended the awareness campaign were eligible for interview; however, one hundred thirty one candidates were interviewed at random. They were asked questions pertaining to their knowledge and beliefs of cervical cancer specifically on to its causes, preventive and possible treatment strategies. All the information was collected and entered into excel sheet. The statistical analysis was done using excel program. IRB approval was granted from the hospital for publication of the results. Results: One hundred thirty one participants have answered the questionnaire. One hundred fourteen patients (87%) women believed that the cause of cervical cancer was due Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), and 17 (13%) believed it was Hereditary. Eight (6%) participants have answered that abnormal vaginal bleeding was the main symptom of cervical cancer, 10 (7.6%) answered that it was abnormal vaginal discharge and 113 (86.3%) said it is both. When the women were asked about cervical screening, 118 (90.1%)) said it was by a pap smear and 13 (9.9%) women said it was by taking a blood sample. One hundred and nine (83.2%) participants said that there is a vaccine, which can be administered in order to prevent cervical cancer and 22 (16.8%), said that there was no vaccine. Conclusion: Most women had a good basic knowledge about the screening method and the preventive measures applied for cervical cancer; however, a small percentage of women need to be aware about the preventive measures, in order to avoid such a drastic preventable occurrence. This is where the role of health care providers and awareness campaigns lies.